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Structured Internships Turn Passion into Action

Structured Internships Turn Passion into Action

Two William Jewell Grads Discover a Path to Nonprofit Leadership

2/18/10 -By Richard Potter

Beth Millas Carrie Vanderford

If at the advent of the millennium the Greater Kansas City community had established a Fulbright Scholars

program for future nonprofit leaders, Carrie Vanderford and Beth Millas would be two of its first and finest

graduates.

Carrie grew up in Kansas City, a graduate of Oak Park High School. She was happy to complete the 50

hours of community service required for graduation. "It was a launching point for me to get involved in some

serious social issues," she remembers. "Those experiences have really served to inform my career path up to

this point."

Beth grew up in West Palm Beach, Fla. Like Carrie, she was very involved in community service projects

throughout high school. "I have an older sister who lives in Parkville," she says, "and that influenced my

decision on where to go to college."

Service Learning Draws Talent

Both women are graduates of William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo. Carrie graduated with the class of

2003; Beth followed in 2006.

The emphasis on service-learning factored into Carrie's decision to go to Jewell. After being exposed to

urban development through an internship in the office of U.S. Senator Kit Bond, she worked with Kevin

Shaffstall to create a course of study to support her growing passion for urban development, housing issues,

and their impact on poverty.

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"Kevin helped to insure some academic rigor and structured internship opportunities to put that passion into

action," says Carrie.

Shaffstall directs the Fred & Shirley Pryor Center for Leadership Development at William Jewell. Jewell

and UMKC had just received a joint grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to help get their

American Humanics programs off the ground. The collaboration led Carrie to take a Kauffman-sponsored

internship class at UMKC, taught by Gary Baker.

From Intern to School District Employee

"I think of it as a course in social entrepreneurship," she says. "I worked with the Kansas City, Mo., schooldistrict and looked at city plans, district history, projections and so forth, to deliver a publication to describe

enrollment projections and their impact on future revenue for the school district."

A Truman Scholar, Carrie continued her education at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning a

Master's Degree in City Planning in June 2006. She then accepted a job as project analyst for the City of

Kansas City, Mo. Her internship with the school district dovetailed nicely with the new job.

"Part of my work was to interact with the school districts and talk about how public policy decisions around

urban development impact revenue," she explains. "As an intern I had worked directly with Bonnie

McKelvey who was the director of finance for the school district. Now here she was back in my life again,

kind of looking at the same issues from a different angle. It was phenomenal."

ational Fundraising for Municipalities

As project analyst, Carrie developed a system to compile and monitor school enrollment, which helped the

school district forecast future revenues and make plans for related capital expenditures. This eventually led

to school closings and consolidations.

"I wouldn't claim as my own the decisions that are being implemented today," she says. "I think I provided

the data that helped them understand the decisions they had to make. How do I feel about it? I feel that it's

the same issue that motivated me to get into nonprofits public service to begin with. Are our policies serving

the people that they are intended to serve? If we are looking at revenue as it is associated with enrollment,

how are we helping our students? Are we achieving the mission of the school? I spent a lot of time learning

about the mission and vision of the school district, and the same question comes through. Are our policies

linked to the mission and vision of the organization? I have to say, at that point, no they were not."

But Carrie was not defeated. With help from an outside consulting firm, she secured a $40 million grant forinvesting tax credits into low-income communities; the city later secured an additional $35 million. In 2008,

Carrie moved to Madison, Wis., to work with the same consulting firm, helping municipalities across the

country expand their tax base without raising taxes. She recently helped secure a green communities grant

for the Alexandria, La., housing authority to build 64 units of public housing. "The state hasn't built one new

unit of public housing for low income since 1976," she says. "That's the kind of work I do; I help them raise

the funds and then make it happen. It is an incredibly fulfilling job."

Classic Story of etworking

Well-structured internships often lead to fulfilling careers. Beth Millas's first internship was with the national

office of American Humanics. It was there that she developed an interest in national issues; as graduation

approached, she decided she would like to live in the nation's capital.

"It's a classic story of networking," she explains. "I was really intentional about maintaining relationships withthe people that I had worked with. I knew American Humanics could help me if I was looking to go outside

of Kansas City. I also knew that I wanted to come back, and American Humanics knew that the DC

experience would benefit Kansas City when I did come back."

Washington, DC, served as the host community for the annual American Humanics

Management/Leadership Institute in January 2007, and a local host committee had been established a year

earlier. In April 2006, Beth met with Bill Bentley, then chief operating officer for the Points of Light

Foundation, who was co-chairing the host committee. She was interested in their position opening in the

development department. Bill made a call to his development director, which led to a lunch appointment the

following day. "I came back to DC for an interview the next week," says Beth, "and two weeks later they

offered me the job."




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Within a year the Points of Light Foundation had announced intentions to merge with Hands On Network,

and Beth was torn between the possibility of working for the combined organization and a strong desire to

return to Kansas City. "While I was in DC a lot was happening in Kansas City as well," she says.

"Downtown development and growth...Kansas City was really an attractive option. It had what I was

looking for as a young professional. It made a lot of sense to come back."

Collaborative Community Builds Future Leaders

By late summer 2007, Beth had returned to Kansas City. In October, a position opened at American

Humanics. Beth got the job. Less than two years later she was promoted to director of development and

now oversees all organizational fundraising activities.

Both Beth and Carrie credit the collaborative nature of the American Humanics alliance for introducing them

to rewarding job opportunities in public service.

"I'm not just saying this," Carrie emphasizes, "I really feel that if I didn't have the path including American

Humanics, and UMKC and William Jewell, and interactions with other nonprofits, other public sector

organizations, other mentors within those groups such as Gary Baker and Kevin Shaffstall, and other

students that are doing this work in other areas of the city, there's just no way that I would have had the

informed experience that I needed to have to be where I am today. I know I have a lot more to do and

learn, but I feel like I'm on a good path because of some of the early work and experience that I had."

Beth plans to begin work on an advanced degree in the near future. Her national travels have introduced her

to a broad range of available programs, and she's intrigued by programs like UMKC's that bridge the MBA

and Master of Public Administration. "Of course there are other schools to consider around the country,"

she says. "I'm excited to see, though, what comes from developing the Kansas City alliance, seeing what

kind of faculty it could attract."

Carrie would like to continue working in housing and urban development issues. "There's so much more that

can be done," she says. She would also like to pursue program-related investments. "There are several

foundations that invest in low income, high-distress communities, really looking at that from triple-bottom

lines. I want to help facilitate that. I know a lot of places where it can be invested. I think that if I can help to

bridge the need and the funds, and help to really strengthen policies as to what gets invested where and to

what extent, then maybe we can make progress serving the people that we intend to serve with our funds.

That's kind of my goal."

And where would she like to pursue her goals?

"This makes me miss Kansas City quite a bit when I think of all the opportunities. I'll be back."

Richard M. Potter is a freelance writer, grant-writer, and nonprofit consultant based in Kansas City. He

can be contacted through his web site, www.richardmpotter.com, or by email:

[email protected].

Richard Potter

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